This past weekend the Copa del Príncipe was held, a final-four tournament featuring the four top ranked teams midway through the LEB Oros regular season-- a great opportunity for us to look at Clark. A guy capable of some pretty impressive offensive outbursts, the semifinal was a good example. He had 17 points in the first half, 12 of them in a very short time span. He showed great confidence in his abilities by knocking down consecutive three-pointers to close his run: the first one, receiving the ball a foot inside the arc, forcing him to take one dribble backwards to step outside and fire. The second one came after a pick-and-pop play. Just immediately before those shots, he had attempted another three-pointer that he missed, but followed the rebound and went up for a pretty nasty dunk. It was a bit of a surprise, because the Englishman is not particularly known for his aggressiveness.
Clark is a fairly skilled and rather fundamentally sound player who seems to understand the game pretty well. He mostly lives off his shooting touch and the variety of attempts he can make, from a very short and one-handed shot, to the long-range bombs. Back to the semifinal, he showcased the extent of his range, connecting on three-pointers, an automatic mid-range jumper that he took pretty quickly, a fade-away turnaround jumper he took off the low block, and also a right-handed jump-hook. Estudiantes has been working on his low post game for a few years now, and although he still needs to significantly improve his footwork, along with his ability to finish with his left hand and his strength to operate more comfortably there, its already paying some dividends. Indeed, he shouldnt have much trouble to become a productive post player as long as hes willing to mix it up inside--and it looks like he is.
At this point, hes a bit of a combo big man: Clark excels with some power forward skills, particularly anything related to shooting the ball, but his athleticism is more of a centers. He looks visibly more comfortable playing on the perimeter, even if he rarely attacks his opponents off the dribble (hes not that quick to become a consistent factor in this department anyway). But beyond his shooting touch, he moves pretty well around the arc and emerges as a pretty solid passer facing the basket, as he proved with a bunch of excellent passes in the semifinal. In terms of size, he also falls between those two positions, while he shows a nice frame to work with.
In the end, hes basically a prospect for international competitions, but a talented kid who should be able to establish himself amongst the elite of European basketball.
Comments